It's Marquette....

[ORUTerry]

Marquette beat Eastern Washington 83 to 73. Here is the box score:

http://www.cstv.com/teams/m-baskbl/scoreboards/c-usa/20051124_game_boxscore_marq.html

[Bogus Smith]

Wow!! 60 fouls, 5 disqualifications and 66 free throws during this game. I sure hope we don't get this crew for the Semi-finals on Friday. It's tough to get a flow to the game when you're stopping action every forty seconds.

I actually thought that the officiating crew for our game last night was very good. Unfortunately we didn't do a great job at the free throw line. The rims seemed extremely hard and tight. Unless the shooter put the ball in the middle of the net, the players did not get a good roll into the hole. We'll need to watch this for our next game, especially if we get 30+ free throws Friday.

[hawaee1]

MARQUETTE

GETTING INSIDE

If the Golden Eagles are going to make noise in their first season as a member of the Big East, it's going to need some of its newest players to make the biggest splashes.

Four of the six top players from last season's team are gone, as Travis Diener, Marcus Jackson, Todd Townsend and Dameon Mason either graduated or (in Mason's case) transferred.

That means a lot of playing time and roster spots were available during the offseason, and not surprisingly that attracted some attention. Five freshmen join the team for the 2005-06 campaign, in addition to juco transfer Jamil Lott and Tulane transfer Dan Fitzgerald.

Senior starters Steve Novak and Joe Chapman may need nametags to keep track of their new teammates in the beginning, but they know they need to figure out very quickly what these fresh faces can do.

Last season started strong, but faded as soon as Travis Diener went down with a broken hand and ended with a first-round loss in the NIT. The losses may make it difficult, but Tom Crean's crew is looking for a fresh start in a new league, both literally and figuratively.

NOTES, QUOTES

POSITIVES: While the Golden Eagles will be inexperienced, they do return deadeye shooter Steve Novak and swingman Joe Chapman. Marquette has tended to play physical basketball under Tom Crean, so the change in playing style from changing leagues shouldn't be too much of a shock.

NEGATIVES: Marquette not only needs to adjust to a whole batch of new players, it needs to do so in a deeper conference with no easy victories. If it struggles in the early going, it may find victories hard to come by.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I've got that count to 10 theory back. You know, when you're ready to blow up and get mad at something, you count to 10 and settle down. That's what you do with a young team, and that will be going on. There'll be times when we count to 20, hopefully we can get it down to five by the end of the year." ? Marquette coach Tom Crean, to the Associated Press, on dealing with his young team.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

KEY RETURNEES: Steve Novak is the obvious key, with Joe Chapman also expected to help lead. Chris Grimm, Ryan Amoroso and Ousmane Barro each started a handful of games last season, and should have larger roles this time around.

TOP NEWCOMERS: Dominic James was the runner-up for Indiana's Mr. Basketball honor, while Wesley Matthews was Wisconsin's Player of the Year as a senior.

THE COACH: Tom Crean's been at Marquette for six years, and has already taken the school to a Final Four. With his Big Ten roots and tough demeanor, he's a good choice to lead the program into the Big East.

ROSTER REPORT

: Dan Fitzgerald is eligible after sitting out last season as a transfer from Tulane. He averaged 4.2 points as a freshman.

[orumom]

Hawaee,

Are you the ORU grad from Hawaii that was on the board last year?

If so, welcome back, if not, great post.

[ORUIsbig]

Should be a fun game. Go Golden Eagles.....i mean our golden eagles!

[orumom]

They tipped off right after us last night. I got to listen to a little of it over the cell phone. The team was hoping Marquette would win.

[Bogus Smith]

Alaska is three hours behind us - therefore the ORU game actually started at 7:30 p.m. AST and the Marquette game started around 10:00 p.m. AST.

It must have been REALLY cold getting in their cars after the game last night!!

[orumom]

UAA could make some waves in Shootout

TOUGH: NIT champion Gamecocks are the first hurdle for the Seawolves.

By VAN WILLIAMS

Anchorage Daily News

Published: November 23, 2005

Last Modified: November 23, 2005 at 02:52 AM

Heavyweights are noticeably absent from this year's Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout. There are no ranked teams, no perennial powers, no household names.

But what the tournament lacks in big-name draws, it makes up for in balance. With no clear-cut favorite, it's anybody's tournament. And with ESPN cameras here to broadcast four games in four days, one team is about to make its name.

Could it be the hometown Seawolves?

The UAA men's basketball team is the hottest team entering the tournament. The Division II Seawolves (4-1) have their best team in years and are on a roll after beating Nebraska-Omaha last week to claim third place in the Disney Tip-Off Classic in Orlando. Nebraska-Omaha ended last season the No. 13 ranked team in Division II.

Optimism is higher than normal this year that UAA could pull off some surprises because the Shootout lacks a top-25 ranked Division I team for the first time since 1991. At the same time, though, nobody in a Seawolf uniform is suffering overconfidence.

"We're not putting them on too high of a pedestal," said UAA senior Aaron Lawrence. "Of course, we realize they're a little more athletic and a little more skilled, but we feel we have a legitimate chance to win."

Unfortunately for the Seawolves, they're first-round opponent is arguably the best team in the Shootout.

South Carolina returns four starters from last season's team that went 20-13 and captured the NIT Tournament championship. The Gamecocks started this season with convincing victories over Western Carolina and Toledo and are coached by Dave Odom, who is shooting for his fourth 20-win campaign in five seasons on campus.

Odom knows plenty about the Seawolves. In 1993, UAA beat his heavily favored Wake Forest Demon Deacons 70-68 in Tim Duncan's collegiate debut. Odom no longer has Duncan, but he does have senior Tarence Kinsey.

Kinsey was the hero of last season's NIT final, draining the winning three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left in a 60-57 win over Saint Joseph's. He started this season by pouring in a career-high 24 points against Toledo.

In theory, anybody could win the tournament. But frontrunners South Carolina, Southern Illinois, Oral Roberts and Marquette look strongest on paper.

Southern Illinois is one of the country's best mid-major programs. The Salukis received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament last season for the fourth year in a row. Of the 21 teams to accomplish that feat in 2005, the only other mid-major was Gonzaga.

Southern Illinois (1-0) is led by a trio of juniors in Jamaal Tatum, Tony Young and Mike Dale, who combined to score 41 points in a 65-47 season-opening win over Louisiana-Lafayette. The Salukis are a young squad, though, with no seniors on scholarship.

Oral Roberts will return four starters and eight letterwinners from last season's team that captured the school's first outright Mid-Continent Conference regular-season title while posting a 25-8 record and advancing to the NIT.

Oral Roberts (1-0) may have the Shootout's best player in 6-foot-8 junior Caleb Green, the 2004-05 Mid-Con Player of the Year and a two-time first team all-conference selection. Green finished in the top 10 in his conference in scoring (19.4), rebounding (9.3), field goal percentage (.552) and free throw percentage (.753).

Oral Roberts has the most intriguing first-round game against Southern California, which is led by first-year coach Tim Floyd, who formerly coached the NBA's Chicago and New Orleans franchises.

Former NCAA champion Marquette won the 2001 Shootout title behind Dwayne Wade and Travis Diener. This year, the Golden Eagles (1-1) feature 6-foot-10 marksman Steve Novak, who last season ranked sixth nationally in three-point percentage (.461) and second in Conference USA in free throw percentage (.905).

But most eyes will likely be on UAA, which has a history for slaying D-I giants in its backyard. The Seawolves have collected 26 Shootout victories in 27 years, most recently High Point (last year), Texas State and Canisius (2003), and Montana (2002).

"The kids really get jazzed about playing the big boys," UAA athletic director Steve Cobb said. "It wasn't too long ago we played a Michigan team that went on to win the (1989) NCAA championship, so I'm not willing to acknowledge we don't have a chance. Our kids take a lot of pride in these games."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daily News reporter Van Williams can be reached at vwilliams@adn.com or 257-4335.

[orumom]

SInce UAA thinks beating Univ of Nebr at Omaha was a big deal, here is UNO's website. Judging by their schedule, they could be NAIA or JUCO.

http://www.lopers.com/mbball/default.htm

If UAA wins, it would take a miracle or a lot of Thanksgiving home cooking.